I'm not going to post all the numbers, just some summary results & opinions...
July is the "who cares" ratings sweep of the year; nevertheless, trends can develop during the summer and momentum can often carry into the fall.
Click "read more" below...
MORNINGS - KPTV bests KGW from 5:00-7:00am for the third straight ratings period. This has never happened before. For the past 3 years, it's been back-and-forth between KPTV and KGW from book-to-book. By winning 3 straight, KPTV is showing signs of pulling ahead in the long-run. If KPTV wins in November, then they will clearly be the #1 morning news station in town. KGW is right on their heals, however. Both stations' ratings are growing -- KPTV's growth is just slightly greater. For KOIN and KATU, the numbers are pretty anemic. KATU had very strange morning numbers this book -- abysmal 5am numbers (0.5) but a big jump at 6am (2.0). KOIN had a steadier number (1.2) throughout the 2-hours. There are no signs that KATU or KOIN are gaining on KGW or KPTV in the morning. Instead, KGW and KPTV seem to be pulling farther ahead.
NOON - Awful numbers for KGW -- to the point where it was almost a 3-way fight. All stations had low numbers -- between 2.2 and 2.6. This news time slot is dying. Viewers clearly don't need 3 choices for news at this hour. The demos could easily come back to be 0's for all three stations. At what point is it no longer worth the expense to produce these shows?
EVENINGS - Same old, same old. KGW won 5:00-7:00pm with numbers similar to last July's numbers. KATU was 2nd and KOIN, 3rd. KATU's & KOIN's numbers perked up from May and were actually slightly better than a year ago. KATU's 5pm and KOIN's 6pm have showed some recent signs of life -- but their numbers are of no threat to KGW.
LATE - To the best of my knowledge, the aggregate ratings for the 11pm newscasts were the lowest EVER. KGW won at 11pm with a 4.6 -- a RECORD LOW number for that station. KATU, KOIN and KPTV were in the 3 range. There were even a couple nights when KATU and KPTV rated less than a 2! It's hard to believe that 6's, 7's and 8's were the norm just 5 years ago. At 10pm, KPTV did well -- but the newscast was down nearly a point from last July. KPTV leads the late news ratings now without question -- a fundamental shift from 5 years ago when KGW's 11pm was THE dominant late newscast. The baton has been passed... and there's no sign of it being passed back anytime soon.
I, for one, much prefer the "fake news" of the Daily Show and Colbert Report to the rehashed crack and crackups of the local news stations.
The comedy shows carry more relevant news content, and when they stand in front of a blue screen of Baghdad or the White House it's a lot funnier than when some doofus from 6 or 12 stands in front of a dark building to tell me what happened inside 14 hours before.
Fake substance is trumping real fluff!